Israeli watchdog slams policy of ‘restraint‘
ISRAELI NGO and settlement watchdog Peace Now has accused Israel of trying to “fool the international community”.
This follows an Israeli security cabinet decision to approve the first illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years, after a new government policy of “restraint” on settlement expansion was introduced.
The cabinet’s policy reportedly came after pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration to curb illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory.
But Peace Now said the new policy “would enable continuous expansion of all settlements without any limitations”.
The group referenced Barak Ravid from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, who said the new policy is aimed at limiting settlement construction by containing it to only “built-up areas”.
But if this is not possible, the construction would be limited to “an area adjacent to the built-up area”.
But Peace Now said Israel’s policy interpretation of a settlement’s “built-up area” expands much further.
“It is this argument over lines with settlers looking to exploit any loophole they can find to permit more expansion of settlements that has led past US administrations into the trap of seemingly endless and irresolvable negotiations over how to decide what it means to build ‘inside’ settlements,” the group said.
The group illustrated the policy by using maps of the illegal Israeli settlements of Eli and Maale Adumim that show tracts of “empty land” between actual constructed areas of the settlement, the fence surrounding it and even more land comprising the settlement’s municipal borders beyond the fence.
“Under the pretence of restraint, the Israeli government has drafted a policy that will allow it to continue and expand settlements without any limitations,” the group stated.
Peace Now added that the Israeli government was attempting to “fool the international community” by developing a policy of restraint around Israeli settlement construction in name only, while actually contributing to the unfettered expansion of illegal settlements that has been consistently condemned and deemed illegal by the international community.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem also slammed the new settlement policy, saying that the policy was “unbridled theft” masquerading as “restrained construction”.
The Israeli policy represents “continued oppression of Palestinians, settlement expansion and breach of international law.
“Going over the heads of Palestinians, Israel facilitates the continued theft of more and more of their land while forbidding them from building on it, demolishing their homes and flagrantly disregarding their needs”. – Ma’an